Driverless Cars: Proposed Laws in Two Jurisdictions

Ever since the car evolved into a viable form of transport it has been the objective of car makers and the desire of many car owners to one day have a car that would drive itself. An ambition which these days is reported to be only some ten to fifteen years away:

But such is not merely ambition or whimsy,  there are many social and economic benefits that could flow from such technology, as well as many legislative and potential legal issues that might arise.

Some Perceived Benefits of Driverless Cars

Some of the advantages touted for driverless cars (for vehicle automation) are:

• the assumption that a machine/computer will be ‘safer’ than a human driver;
• the belief held by many drivers that driving is repetitive hard worked made easier by automated driving;
• drivers will be able to use time spent on daily driving for other things like catching up on email and messages, relaxation and even sleep;
• economic advantages, for example, positive effects on insurance premiums (generated by the prospect of fewer crashes); and
• environmental advantages resulting from lighter less energy consuming vehicles for example; or from fewer vehicles on the road because of the efficiency of autonomous cars and the prospects for car sharing services.

Specific Current Legislative Developments

Late last year, South Australia became the first Australian jurisdiction to introduce legislative measures to prepare for the introduction of driverless cars, introducing into its parliament the Motor Vehicles (Trials of Automotive Technologies) Amendment Bill 2015 on 23 September 2015 (currently at second reading in the Council).

The Bill proposes the establishment of a legislative framework in South Australia which allows for trials of driverless vehicle technology to be conducted on South Australian roads. The Bill was part of the South Australian Government's plan to later in the year (November 2015) host the first trials of driverless cars in the Southern Hemisphere - a new technology which the state is only too keen to encourage and become identified with, as the Transport Minister's Media release makes clear:

While South Australia was the first to move, the ACT has recently begun the process of enabling driverless car trials in the ACT by releasing an exposure draft for a Bill entitled the Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) (Autonomous Vehicle Trials) Amendment Bill 2016. The draft has been available for consultation since 25 January 2016, with consultation set to close tomorrow (5 February 2016).

Like the SA Bill, the ACT draft Bill sets out provisions dealing with autonomous vehicle trials, the approvals needed to conduct trials and offences relating to breaches of those provisions. The ACT exposure draft Bill contains interesting definitions of "autonomous system" and "autonomous vehicle". An "autonomous system" for a motor vehicle is defined to mean ". . . a system that enables the operation of the motor vehicle without the active physical control of, or monitoring by, a human operator . . ." while an "autonomous vehicle" is defined to mean a motor vehicle equipped with an autonomous system - however, a vehicle is not equipped with an autonomous system:

Some General Legal Questions that May Arise

One of the first areas to consider will be current legal terminology, for example; do current concepts of what is called a "vehicle" include a vehicle which is not in the control of a human "driver"? And who is the "driver"- is the driver the person sitting in the car, or the owner of the software driving the car?

The question of "who is in control of the car?" will also be one up for reconsideration, for example, in a situation where a driverless car queues across an intersection - does the human in the car get the ticket? or does the owner of the software take liability for the miscalculation? A recent article points out that:

The now Australia wide rules relating to the use of mobile devices and technology  in cars may come up for review in a driverless car future, given that at that time it may well be safe to use such devices in a car that does not require your concentration to drive it.

The issues likely to require the greatest attention in a driverless car future are those relating to driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs or both. Will being in a car in such condition given you are not driving still attract the same penalties, or will there be cause to change the approach? Is it safe to assume the car can handle it or should there still be duty and liability on the driver? A recent article says on this topic that it is:

Legal issues arising could even go as far as raising privacy concerns. As is pointed out:

Like most technology in its relationship with the law -  driverless cars look set to play an interactive development game of evolve, refine and develop, until it all works, which hopefully will not take to long to achieve.

TimeBase is an independent, privately owned Australian legal publisher specialising in the online delivery of accurate, comprehensive and innovative legislation research tools including LawOne and unique Point-in-Time Products.

Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) (Autonomous Vehicle Trials) Amendment Bill 2016 (ACT Exp Draft) and Motor Vehicles (Trials of Automotive Technologies) Amendment Bill 2015 (SA) as reported in the TimeBase LawOne Service.

Legal issues keep autonomous vehicles off the road but Australia needs to consider the new technology, University of Michigan's Diana Bowman says (ABC News)

South Australia leads nation on driverless car legislation (SA Transport Minister - Media Release)

Legal implications for driverless cars (By Dr Kieran Tranter, Griffith Law School)